For the second consecutive year, a school-record tying four UMBC men’s lacrosse players have been selected to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association’s All-America squads.
Senior midfielder Peet Poillon (Cranberry Township, Pa.) earned the top honor, earning Second Team honors, while senior goalkeeper Jeremy Blevins (Cockeysville, Md./Calvert Hall) repeated as an honorable mention selection. Senior midfielder Alex Hopmann (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis) and junior linemate Kyle Wimer (Lancaster, Pa.) both earned honorable mention citations.
Poillon, who will compete in the North-South game at Harvard Stadium on May 22, earned Second Team honors one year after Terry Kimener was named to the Second Team. Prior to 2008, the last player to earn that high of an honor was midfielder Mark Gold, who earned Second Team accolades in 1984. Poillon, an America East First-Team All-Conference performer, led the Retrievers with 47 points, scoring 26 goals and adding a team-best 21 assists. He earned honorable mention All- America honors after his 2008 campaign at Ohio State University.
Blevins became the ninth player in school history to earn multiple NCAA Division I All America honors. The 2009 America East Player of the Year posted 44 career victories, fifth on the all-time list, and made 628 saves, fourth on UMBC’s all-time list. Blevins started all 63 games played by the Retrievers over the past four seasons, all of which ended in NCAA Tournament berths.
Hopmann led the 2009 team with 36 goals, tying Jason Smith (1994) and Jeff Benson (1974, 1975) for 11th place on the single-season goals list. He became the 25th player in school history to amass 100 career points (103) and is the Retrievers’ all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I tournament play with 13 points (5gp; 11g, 2a).
Wimer did much more than just fill out the torrid midfield unit, which amassed 133 points in 2009. He scored 24 goals, added 18 assists and collected 43 ground balls. The America East First-Team All-Conference middie has 98 points (53 goals, 45 assists) after his first three seasons of play.
In 2008, Blevins, Kimener, defenseman Bobby Atwell and attackman Ryan Smith became the first UMBC quartet since 1981 to earn All America honors. Atwell suffered a torn ACL in the winter of 2009 and is expected to compete in his senior season in 2010. In the 2009 America East championship game, Smith tore his ACL, but recovered to start all 16 games this spring. After a slow start, he came on strong down the stretch, earning Second-Team All-Conference and All-Championship team honors, as he amassed 22 goals and 10 assists.
George McGeeney, who was named the Outstanding Defenseman by the USILA in 1982, is the Retrievers’ lone NCAA Division I First Team All American. Blevins joins McGeeney (1981-82) , Gold (1982-84), long-stick midfielder Chris Cain (1990-91), attackman Chris Turner (1997-99), defenseman Jason Quenzer (1998-99), attackman Dan Marohl (1999-2000), attackman Brendan Mundorf (2005-06) and Kimener (2007-08) as multiple-season honorees.